Portrait Project, Q. Cassetti, 2011 Adobe Illustrator CS5Working on a series of quick portraits. The one to the left is a work in progress (the nose needs to be quieted down) and the neck needs to just go to white and more swanny. Right now, its kind of a mess. But as this has limited time on the clock…I will amend later. This is a good exercise as the process needs to be worked with in order to keep my eye in. I think this is it for today…and I will start another tomorrow against my friend the clock.

I generally like tech books…but this one could almost be termed as ‘Yummy!”. Glitschka is focused on good file building, using the tools, power commands, actions, and setting up your document to allow the work to flow and not to be stuck looking to click on things or pulldown. He drives the work to be more fluid, more accurate, more streamlined while recognizing the scrap that accumulates on the left and right of the final art.

AND, its not all about working on the computer. Von Glitschka is very emphatic about designers and illustrataors to keep drawing to develop designs, layouts and images. He introduces his techniques and tools—driving the designer/illustrator to go back and thumbnail until the idea is exhausted. He uses a 2B pencil, ballpoint and mechanical pencil. I am a bit messier using verithin photoblue, ultra fine sharpie or verithin red pencil, and then ink, ink ink. But its the same layered drawing to make a final to work from.

I highly recommend this book to any student or working designer or illustrator…let alone any visual artist as his work methods are tried and true, and help you to work in an organized and efficient way. How often is methodology laid out so clearly for graphic designers and illustrators? Thanks to Von Glitschka, we have this tome to reference. I like it so much, I have it on my iPad and have a hard copy coming as I think I need both.